The Wire: New Delhi: Thursday, 18 September 2025.
In October 2023, the Supreme Court had noted that the RTI Act will become a ‘dead letter’ if vacancies in information commissions are not filled.
Transparency activists
have highlighted the fact that for the seventh time in the last 11 years the
Central Information Commission (CIC) is functioning without a chief after the
its former head Heeralal Samariya retired on September 9, 2025 upon attaining
the age of 65.
“In fact, in each of the 7 times that the post of the Chief CIC fell vacant it was on account of routine retirements either attaining the age of 65 or upon completion of stipulated tenure. Therefore, in each case the date of demitting office was known since the time they were appointed and despite that, the government failed to make appointments in a timely manner,” said Anjali Bhardwaj and Amrita Johri, transparency activists associated with the National Campaign for People’s Right to Information and Satark Nagrik Sangathan.
Bhardwaj and Johri, who, along with Commodore Lokesh Batra (Retd.) are the petitioners in the Supreme Court case regarding appointment of information commissioners across the country, said in a statement that the the CIC is now functioning with just two commissioners as nine posts lie vacant that of the chief and 8 other commissioners.
“The backlog in the CIC is already more than 26,000 and it takes more than one year for a matter to be heard. Eight vacancies have persisted since November 2023,” said the activists in the statement.
The statement added that the Union government had issued an advertisement in August 2024, inviting applications for the vacant posts of information commissioners. In January 2025, it had filed an affidavit in the ongoing case in the Supreme Court, stating that the selection process for information commissioners is expected to be completed in three months (by April 2025).
However, no appointments have been made till date, said the statement. On May 21, 2025 the Union government issued an advertisement inviting applications for the post of chief information commissioner and the last date of applying was June 30, 2025.
“The failure to make appointments in the CIC is also a violation of the 2019 judgment of the Supreme Court wherein the Court had given specific directions to ensure that vacancies are filled in a timely and transparent manner,” said the statement.
In October 2023, the Supreme Court had noted that the RTI Act will become a ‘dead letter’ if vacancies in information commissions are not filled.
“The last time appointments were made in November 2023, it was done in a completely arbitrary manner on the basis of recommendations made by a selection committee without the presence of the Leader of Opposition (LoP) even though there is no provision in the RTI Act which allows for a truncated selection committee to make appointments,” said the activists in the statement.
Under the RTI Act, the selection committee for the appointment of the chief and information commissioners to the CIC comprises of the Prime Minister (chairperson of the committee), LoP and a Union cabinet minister to be nominated by the PM.
“By not appointing information commissioners in a timely and proper manner, the central government is crippling and effectively killing people’s fundamental right to information,” said the activists.
“Vacancies lead to a large backlog of appeals and complaints in the commission, which results in information seekers having to wait for more than one year to have their cases heard and disposed. This renders the information meaningless for them information delayed is information denied,” the statement added.
In October 2023, the Supreme Court had noted that the RTI Act will become a ‘dead letter’ if vacancies in information commissions are not filled.
“In fact, in each of the 7 times that the post of the Chief CIC fell vacant it was on account of routine retirements either attaining the age of 65 or upon completion of stipulated tenure. Therefore, in each case the date of demitting office was known since the time they were appointed and despite that, the government failed to make appointments in a timely manner,” said Anjali Bhardwaj and Amrita Johri, transparency activists associated with the National Campaign for People’s Right to Information and Satark Nagrik Sangathan.
Bhardwaj and Johri, who, along with Commodore Lokesh Batra (Retd.) are the petitioners in the Supreme Court case regarding appointment of information commissioners across the country, said in a statement that the the CIC is now functioning with just two commissioners as nine posts lie vacant that of the chief and 8 other commissioners.
“The backlog in the CIC is already more than 26,000 and it takes more than one year for a matter to be heard. Eight vacancies have persisted since November 2023,” said the activists in the statement.
The statement added that the Union government had issued an advertisement in August 2024, inviting applications for the vacant posts of information commissioners. In January 2025, it had filed an affidavit in the ongoing case in the Supreme Court, stating that the selection process for information commissioners is expected to be completed in three months (by April 2025).
However, no appointments have been made till date, said the statement. On May 21, 2025 the Union government issued an advertisement inviting applications for the post of chief information commissioner and the last date of applying was June 30, 2025.
“The failure to make appointments in the CIC is also a violation of the 2019 judgment of the Supreme Court wherein the Court had given specific directions to ensure that vacancies are filled in a timely and transparent manner,” said the statement.
In October 2023, the Supreme Court had noted that the RTI Act will become a ‘dead letter’ if vacancies in information commissions are not filled.
“The last time appointments were made in November 2023, it was done in a completely arbitrary manner on the basis of recommendations made by a selection committee without the presence of the Leader of Opposition (LoP) even though there is no provision in the RTI Act which allows for a truncated selection committee to make appointments,” said the activists in the statement.
Under the RTI Act, the selection committee for the appointment of the chief and information commissioners to the CIC comprises of the Prime Minister (chairperson of the committee), LoP and a Union cabinet minister to be nominated by the PM.
“By not appointing information commissioners in a timely and proper manner, the central government is crippling and effectively killing people’s fundamental right to information,” said the activists.
“Vacancies lead to a large backlog of appeals and complaints in the commission, which results in information seekers having to wait for more than one year to have their cases heard and disposed. This renders the information meaningless for them information delayed is information denied,” the statement added.
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